The ancestral home of renowned author Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury—grandfather of legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray—is being demolished in Mymensingh to make way for a new building for the Shishu Academy.
Located on Harikishore Ray Chowdhury Road, the century-old structure was previously used by the Mymensingh Shishu Academy but had remained abandoned for the past decade. Authorities now plan to construct a semi-concrete facility on the site to resume academy operations, according to Md Mehedi Zaman, the district’s children affairs officer.
The decision was approved by a committee headed by Mymensingh Deputy Commissioner Mofidul Alam, with support from the Public Works Department. Mehedi Zaman cited structural decay and safety concerns as reasons for the demolition, saying the old building posed a risk to children.
Despite the house’s deep historical significance—built by zamindar Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury, father of poet Sukumar Ray and grandfather of Satyajit Ray—the site was never formally listed as a protected heritage by the Department of Archaeology. Still, local surveys had recognized it as a heritage structure.
“The house remained in a state of neglect for years, with visible damage like roof cracks. Despite repeated appeals from locals for its preservation, authorities took no action,” said local poet Shamim Ashraf.
Sabina Yeasmin, field officer of the Department of Archaeology for Dhaka and Mymensingh divisions, confirmed the building’s historical value and said she had urged the local administration to protect it, but her appeals went unheeded.
Following the 1947 Partition, the property came under government ownership and began housing the Mymensingh Shishu Academy in 1989. It stands just behind Shashi Lodge, another prominent archaeological site in the city.
Residents and cultural activists have expressed concern that demolishing the house erases a vital piece of Mymensingh’s cultural and literary legacy—the legacy of the Ray dynasty.
